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SBC Baptisms Declining


According to this article, although "the number of Southern Baptist churches in 2006 increased by 524... total baptisms in the Southern Baptist Convention fell for the second consecutive year."

This has caused me to ponder: is this because the SBC is attracting mainly people from church backgrounds (i.e. already baptized), or is it because the SBC doesn't put enough emphasis on the doctrine of baptism? While I've never belonged to a SBC, my church background is similar (a conservative baptistic evangelical church), and baptism has never been stressed as very important. In fact, I wasn't baptized until many years after I became a Christian and joined a church.

Comments

Anonymous said…
When I visited Southern Seminary, one of the things the president stated that identified the school as "Baptist" in the first place was their emphasis on the ordinance of baptism.

I do know that many people who are unsatisfied with the liberal direction of other mainline denominations are attracted to the SBC, primarily because of its unwavering stand on the authority of Scripture and on the gospel.

Of course, there's always the possibility that God happens not to be saving as many people through the SBC right now, which (as you know) has a direct bearing on the number of baptisms in a church which practices believer's baptism.
May 4, 2007 at 12:25 PM
Unknown said…
Unfortunately, I only have experience with one Southern Baptist Church (the Venue), which was probably not representative of most SB churches. To be fair, though, the Venue did have their own series on Baptism.

I do wonder how the number of baptisms in baptist churches compare with the number of baptisms of paedobaptist churches as a ratio of church growth.
May 4, 2007 at 3:55 PM
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